We are now gradually reaching the end of the complete Bruckner Symphonies
by Georg Tintner for Naxos. Recorded over the past few years, in various
locations this series has been consistently at the forefront of various versions
of the symphonies of Bruckner. In addition this series is absolutely complete
spanning as it does from the Study Symphony, (No. 00) through the entire
cycle up to and including No. 9. All the recordings were in the can before
Georg Tintner died, and more than any of his other limited recordings, this
series will be an appropriate epitaph to this enigmatic conductor who until
recently was almost unknown to the general record buying public.

In addition, Naxos has put us in their debt by allowing Tintner to record
out of the norm versions of some of the symphonies, and adding, as with the
present issue another version of a slow movement to a symphony (No. 3) which
has been recorded separately and is also available. This gives us the opportunity
to contrast and compare versions, an activity which gives the collector the
excuse (if ever he or she needed it), of having more than one version of
a work.

The current disc allows us to hear the version of Symphony No. 1 as Bruckner
originally wrote, and which first saw the light of day as the work originally
premiered in 1868, before it was tampered with and modified. How does it
compare with the Linz and Vienna versions which we all know and love. The
currently recorded work shares the same date (1868) with the Linz vesion,
but is in fact different than the more well known opus, in having quite a
few passages in the finale quite different than the other Linz version. These
have been reconstructed by Professor Carragan in 1998, and the first three
movements will not produce any startling changes.

In the last movement however, substantial passages have been reinstated which
Bruckner had replaced with simpler less radical passages, and they will be
heard with much interest by the listener, provided they know the other versions
well.

How does the new disc compare with others currently available. The Royal
Scottish National Orchestra does not perhaps have quite the sheen and power
of some more famous Continental and American ensembles, but it can hold its
own totally in terms of commitment to the conductor and in the providing
the listener with a genuine performance to hear.

Naxos has been fortunate in terms of its venue in the Henry Wood Hall in
Glasgow, as the recording comes over as having power, clarity and just enough
resonance to make it sound like a performance in a concert hall.

The adagio from Symphony No. 3, has been included as it is complementary
to the "proper" version supplied with the recording on 8.freer